Many packaging applications use resealable containers to store various types of articles and materials. These packages may be used to store and ship food products, non-food consumer goods, medical supplies, waste materials, and many other articles. Resealable packages are convenient in that they can be closed and resealed after the initial opening to preserve the enclosed contents. The need to locate a storage container for the unused portion of the products in the package is thus avoided. As such, providing products in resealable packages appreciably enhances the marketability of those products.
Some types of resealable packages are opened and closed using a slider device. The slider device design includes a separator or plow-type structure at one end that opens a closure mechanism, having profiled elements or closure profiles, when the slider device travels in a first direction along the mechanism. The side walls of the slider device are inwardly tapered from one end to the opposite end so that the sidewalls engage the closure profiles and progressively move them into engagement to close the resealable package when the slider device is moved along the closure mechanism in a direction opposite the first direction. Side seals at each end of the closure mechanism keep the slider device from sliding off the package in either direction.
Concerns are raised regarding resealable closure mechanisms with slider devices. One such concern is that the mouth opening is partially blocked by the slider device. The ends of the package are sealed to keep the slider device from sliding off of the profiles; however, this also partially blocks the mouth of the package with the slider device.